Thursday, July 15, 2010

Violently friendly

There is a woman who I come into contact with from time to time. Iofteneat bean burritos with no onions from the Taco Bell near the University andthis woman works there. Her customer service cannot be faulted: she is polite andcould even called friendly. She mans (orwould it bewomansin this case)thefirst windowat the Taco Bell drive through;it is her job to takemymoney andgive me change.Each time I pull around to the first window after placing my order she greets me with a beaming smile. She is not an attractive woman. She is somewhat overweight– nothing like the supermodels Taco Bell hires for its ridiculous commercials but very typical of the people that actually work in most fast food restaurants.That being said, I would like to add thatshe is also not an ugly woman; in fact, if it weren’t forjust one thing I would say that she isacompletely unremarkable person. The exceptionis inthe way that she greets me. As I already stated, I can always expect her beaming smile–but it becomesmore than a greeting really,feelingalmostlikean assault.She always yells,“Hello, there,”“Goodmorning,”or“Good afternoon,” or whatever friendlythingshe says that day.Why the yelling?She is so loudwhen she greets methat it makes me want to cringe. So violent are herhellos thatI feel like I am being attacked every time– indeed,I don’t think that it would be all that different if I was actually being attacked by her. It is almost as thoughsheis invading my privacy when she says anything to me at all.“Your order is $2.16. What kind of sauce would you like?”It crosses my mind–Am I an animalto be barked at like this?as I shake my head‘no’ without saying a word.“Have a nice day,” sheshoots the words outlike a cannon firing missiles in my direction. I grimace and drive onno different than a personunpleasantly surprised bythe popping offirecrackersunexpectedlygoing offnearby.